October — Mark 4-5

0:00 Alright. We're in Mark chapter five. So if you want to turn there, feel free to do so. I'll give you just a second to turn there and then we will begin with a word of prayer. Mark chapter five.

0:14 Let's pray as we get started here. Our heavenly father, we are are thankful to be here this morning. We're thankful for the scripture. Father, we recognize the Holy Spirit in our presence here this morning. We confess our sin.

0:32 We pray father that as we open the word and have it opened even now that you would give us good understanding and press on our hearts the truths that You would have us to recognize, to embrace. Father, we pray that we might approach this time with an attitude of obedience, allowing these truths to shape our lives. We understand your desire for us to each be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We understand as a Christ follower the desire that the fruit of the Spirit would be displayed and evident in our everyday actions. And Father, we understand that that's hard.

1:15 We understand that it's a spiritual battle. We understand that the spirit wars against the flesh in these things and we're praying for victory in that. Father, would pray just now as we get to take a look at the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels. We pray that we would see Christ clearly. Draw us unto Him this morning.

1:38 We're asking for help in these things. We ask this now in the name of the Lord Jesus and we pray this, Amen. And just a way to catch us up a little bit in the sense of maybe just a little bit of review. Mark starts starts out and he doesn't start out maybe like everybody else does and and I say everybody else like the other gospel writers. You have Matthew starts out with this genealogy.

2:41 Who wants to know the genealogy of a servant? But nonetheless John the Baptist would prophesy and say the Lord Jesus is coming and that's how this book of Mark opens. Then as we transition into the book, we hear about the baptism of the Lord Jesus, the dove ascending and then Christ going into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The Lord Jesus comes out from that having defeated Satan's temptation, resisted Satan's temptation and He preaches this. He preaches the Kingdom of God is at hand and tells the people to repent and believe the gospel, He would then call disciples.

3:32 And Mark tells us that He would call these disciples and we hear these words, I will make you fishers of men. The lord Jesus then starts to do some healing. He cast out some demons. Simon's mother, you know, is healed and he starts to exercise his authority over disease and demons over the spirit world. We transition as we keep on going and He sets this wonderful example for us.

4:05 We read in the scripture in Mark, we read those words, And the Lord Jesus, rising up a great while before day, departed unto a solitary place and there he prayed. Not only does he give us that example, but then he would start his teaching ministry in chapter four. He would give the parable of the sower. We know the four types of soil. We know that seed that's being sowed out and we know the the things that happened and He gives us explanation that the disciples say, please explain this parable to me and He explains it to them.

4:45 And then they get in the boat. Last week we just heard about the disciples' experience in the boat as Nathan did an excellent job of talking about the Lord Jesus calming the wind and the waves as they crossover to the other side. Well, that brings us up to chapter five where I've asked you to turn and in chapter five, you know, so far, we we definitely see the lord Jesus Christ. It's the gospel, the gospel according to Mark, the gospel of the lord Jesus Christ and it's very much the the life of the lord Jesus being lit lived out and explained by the Holy Spirit through Mark for us to realize and grab hold of these actual things that happened. And so in chapter five, the main character as in the whole book is, guess who?

5:41 The Lord Jesus, right? But we have three different scenes if you will in chapter five. Chapter five's got 43 verses, all right? So 43 is a pretty big number, right? Alright, so listen, if you're going to memorize a book or you're going to memorize a chapter, that would be quite a tall order to memorize 43 verses.

7:39 The tombs in in this area, right? They were outside the city. They were an eerie place. The the type of of burial process was a little bit different. It was a dark place, okay?

7:52 It was not a it was not a place that you you wanted to to spend a long time there. This guy lived there. Okay? He lived there. He chose to live there.

8:05 And we read about his description. We read about his circumstance and here he is. He's got supernatural strength and we think like how could this guy be bound with chains? I mean when's the last time you've been on a swing set there? It's been a while.

8:23 Been a while, okay. But you remember swing sets, Even the chain of a swing set, could you break that? Maybe Mason could. But even those chains right there, this guy's the King James has plucked them asunder, alright? Okay?

8:44 But he broke em. They they could not bind him. They could not tame him and perhaps, they were even trying to do it for his own good because why? He was self destructing. He was cutting himself.

8:57 He was harming himself and potentially harming others. We read about his situation and you know we come to this conclusion. I mean upon the introduction, we think this guy is hopeless. Man couldn't help him. I mean he couldn't help himself.

9:21 He's under the control of demons who converse with the Lord Jesus, who tell us things and that's almost a whole different study about what they reveal. I mean, they know who God is. They know that there's a coming time where every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess. These demons do this. This man's hopeless.

10:07 We're going to meet the person in scene three. It's actually a set of parents that we meet and and when the lord Jesus was passed over again by the ship onto the other side, he's left that the Gazarenes or left that area where he met the demonic. He goes back to where he was before. Much people gather unto him and he was nigh unto the sea and behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and when he saw him he fell at his feet. And he besought him or begged him, pleaded with him greatly saying, my little daughter lieth at the point of death.

10:44 I pray thee, come lay thy hands on her that she may be healed and she shall live. Here's a father. As we read on in the chapter, chapter five, we understand that the mother's home with her. We also learn a little bit later in the chapter that she's 12 years old. Think about each of you that have had a daughter or a son.

11:18 I've got a 10 year old son. My daughters at one time were 12. Amy, you were 12 once, weren't you? What did you say? Still the same height.

11:35 Janelle was 12 once, you know. Mrs. Reeder, do you remember when Jennifer was 12? Yes. Yes.

11:48 Think about this is preteen, okay? We're meeting a set of parents whose only daughter, who is 12 years old, is lying at the point of death. 12 year olds are precious. I mean, the whole life is in front of them, seemingly so. And this man, he's a ruler of the synagogue.

12:20 He's searching out. Others could not help him. He's searching out. He's begging Jesus, come. Heal my daughter so she will live.

12:34 You know, that that seems like a pretty severe situation But look over at verse 35. The act continues in verse 35 where it says, he yet spake while he spake, there came came from the ruler of the synagogue's house. This is the father's house where the where the child had lied sick. It came and said, thy daughter is now dead. Why trouble you the master any further?

13:08 So a bad situation turned worse, right? And so here we have in in this second situation that we read about in Mark chapter five, we have this situation where two parents of or the parents of a 12 year old girl, She lies dying and she dies while Jesus is on the way. And if we just take it and look at that, we would come to the similar conclusion. It was a hopeless situation, right? It was severe.

14:06 Let's read the description of this lady in verse 25. Go back to verse 25. You'll see that's a paragraph division as well. And a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years. She had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and and was nothing better but rather grew worse.

14:31 Now, again, we we don't know the exact disease. We don't know the the name of it. We we know it dealt with some type of a bleeding issue and we also understand from the New Testament that if you had any type of issue like this you were determined unclean. So not only had she understood that she had a problem in her body and as she had sought help from the physicians, it says that she suffered and almost, you almost read that and wonder, did the doctors take advantage of her or what? We don't know but we know that she spent all that she had.

15:05 She couldn't go to the temple. She couldn't go to the synagogue. She was unclean. She essentially like a social outcast too. And we read about her situation as that she had tried all that she could do and we come to this conclusion.

15:21 She's in a pretty hopeless spot. Three situations. Three hopeless situations. I want you to go toward the end of the chapter verse 42. And are are you you guys guys versed enough Christians to do verses in Part A and Part B?

15:53 I mean, are all able to do that? Okay, I know it takes a little skill, a little training, a little practice, but go to chapter five verse 42, Part B, okay. I want to pick up the second part of this. And they were astonished with great astonishment. And so this morning, as we have this chapter five before us, I'd like to take us all on a situation where we would look at three hopeless circumstances, three hopeless scenarios where real life people are at the end of their rope and they're taken from hopelessness to great astonishment with great astonishment or astonished with great astonishment, astonished with great astonishment.

16:58 We take them from hopeless to like, Wow, I can't believe what just happened. We're given these scriptures for a very, very specific reason that scenarios would transcend time. Think about what you are praying for right now in your own life. Think about what we're praying for collectively as a group of believers. Some of these things would be...

17:44 We would categorize them and we might think about the situations we're praying for and we would say this is a hopeless situation. And we might draw some similarities or some parallels to that guy that was possessed by demons. He was separated. He was destructing himself. We might draw some parallels to to some parents that were that were desperate.

18:11 They had tried other things but they were they were really calling out for help for their daughter. We might draw some parallels to this woman who had a disease and she just wasn't getting any better. In fact, she was getting worse. I ask you to think about some of the things that you're praying about in your own life. And as we consider our own life or as we consider each other, like I look around this room and I know some of the things that you're going through.

19:04 I don't know all of it. Scott, your mom's not here today. She was faithfully here prior to her stroke. What's, I mean a stroke, that's a pretty severe situation. How about the care for a parent post stroke?

19:34 How about caring for your spouse? Not knowing the future? How about bringing in your grandchildren? How about having an adult daughter that's got severe health issues? Jim, I love you.

20:21 We could look at these situations and say it's hopeless. Do you do you think think that we could go from hopeless to astonished with great astonishment? You know, I wish I could turn this room into a boat. I wish this room was like a boat on the sea and and we're all in the boat together and not only are we in this boat but the waves and the wind are raging. Water is coming over the side.

21:15 Even those of you that are experienced sailors, you're fearing for your life. Scott, could you come here for a second? I want you to stand up on this chair. On the chair? Yeah.

21:45 All right. Was going to get one of the teen guys. I should have done that. Here you are right there. No problem.

22:08 I caught you sleeping. Yeah, that's why I'm here. Up here. I don't know exactly what he did. I envision that he raised his hands.

22:20 He only spoke three words. Peace, be still. And as soon as he did that, the waves, the wind ceased immediately. And I imagine that that boat was probably still rocking a little bit even though the wind stopped just like that, even though the waves stopped like that, the the the motion of the boat was probably still rocking but look, the us in the boat, we in the boat, we looked at this man. We looked at this man and we said, who is this?

23:00 That even the wind and the waves obey him. You can sit down. And so listen, this morning when I said, do you want to take your situation, your personal situation today in 2019, do you want to take your personal situation from hopeless to being astonished with great astonishment? I'm not saying that you that you... I'm just saying look at the Lord Jesus.

23:33 Okay? Because when we look at these scenarios, when we look at these three acts or these three scenes of the demonic and when we see the when we see the parents, when we see this woman, we when we see these three acts, the the the common denominator, the common thing was Jesus in the equation, right? And so, if we want to go from hopeless to astonished with great astonishment, we gotta have god in the equation. And so, this morning, could we see god, the lord Jesus, the holy spirit, with all that power? I'm not here to give you any kind of false hope.

24:35 In fact, the scripture that we're reading, somebody could look at that and say, you know, the guy's got two got thousands of demons in him and Jesus just speaks them out. No contest. They didn't give him. They they they didn't say like, okay, Jesus, we're ready for battle. They're like running scared.

25:00 The man, the dad and the mom, the mom probably says, She's dead. Go tell my husband that she's dead. Don't bother the master any longer. You'll read it in the Gospel there in chapter five when that word comes back in along verse 35 or so there, when that word comes and Jairus says, you know, okay, the Lord Jesus turns to him and says, Don't be afraid. Just believe.

25:44 Don't be afraid. Just believe. But the Lord Jesus comes to the house and says, Maid, arise, and she's made whole. She gets up and she gets to have a meal. And this lady that had this issue of blood, disease, she's the one that reaches out and touches the hem of His garment, which is another incredible display of God's power.

26:12 The hem of His garment and she's made whole. The boat we were in, well we made it to the other side. And we we would look at this and we think, oh, these are all happy endings. Andy, are you going to sell, you're to tell me that Mark chapter five tells me that all of my hopeless situations are going to end up in happy endings? I've got a sister who died at age 42 with cancer.

26:55 I know some of you all prayed for Sandy Bingham And Scott and Diane and Jim and Dave had to bury their mother or wife and go on without her. G. Campbell Morgan makes this statement. Listen carefully to it. When the one who can does not, then what happens will be better.

27:47 When the one who can, the Lord Jesus in this situation, He could have healed my sister. He could have healed Sandy Bingham. He could have... The one who has the power to do it. When the one who can doesn't, will you go on understanding that was better?

28:07 And so really it takes it to a whole different aspect of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember we want to see Him. We want to see... Put God in the equation and see God working. And can we trust Him?

28:25 Can we still believe Him? Can we still follow him in faith believing that even though my prayer was not answered in the way that I wanted to, a way I thought it would, what I thought would give me a happy ending, can I still trust him in the midst of the storm, in the midst of the trial, when it doesn't go my way? And so we have the Lord Jesus telling us, Don't be afraid. Only believe. Believe when there's still hope.

29:50 Well, let me read this scripture. The Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister. He came not to serve, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. That's in our same book, Mark ten forty five. You see, He did come to serve.

30:09 And I'd like to suggest to you that the Lord Jesus is here to serve, is here to serve you in your hopeless situation, in the trial that you're going through. Bob, what was the three T's that you shared with me yesterday? Yeah, so it's testing plus trust equals testimony. I like that. That goes along with our study here this morning, doesn't it?

30:43 The hopeless situation, that's the testing. Over and over again, you see what's happening in these situations. You see what's happening in these... When disciples are in the boat, the lord Jesus says, oh you of little faith. And then, when the woman is healed and she touches out and and the lord Jesus says, woman, of great faith, your faith has healed you.

31:11 Your faith in Me has healed you. And when Jairus is following the Lord Jesus, he says, Don't be afraid. Just believe. Have faith. The trial, the testing is the hopeless situation.

31:31 The trusting, Well, it's our heart and mind. It's putting God in the equation and it's allowing God to serve us. That probably sounds odd. He came not to be served. He came to seek and to serve.

31:54 He came to serve and to provide His life a ransom for us. And you know what? We can go from hopeless to astonished with great astonishment when our daughter is healed or if our daughter dies. And that's where if we could grow as a group to that understanding that I can trust Him, I can have faith in Him, I can follow Him. And you know what?

32:44 There's something that's experienced. He says it to the woman that touched the hem of His garment, Go in peace. Go in peace. This woman had been twelve years without peace. You and I can walk a life of peace as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, as we allow Him to serve us, to take us from hopeless to astonished with great astonishment.

33:16 You know, we are in this life together. And as I asked you before, if you might even consider what are some things that you're praying about yourself in your own life? What are you praying about? Are you sharing that prayer request with other people? Are you allowing others to pray with you?

33:49 Are you allowing others to get in the boat with you? I'd like to encourage you to do that. In fact, maybe even before you leave today. Say, Hey, would you pray with me about this? You don't have to carry it alone.

34:13 We're going to conclude right now and just would encourage you to think about these acts in chapter five of Mark. Consider the Lord Jesus. Put God in the equation. Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we look over this chapter and we give thanks that you put real people, real circumstances.

34:55 Some people we know their names, other people we don't. But we know the name of the Lord Jesus. We see His power displayed time and time again. We know the heart of the Father. We can experience the work of the Spirit.

35:15 And so, Father, we pray just now, we're going to pray for some encouragement. We sometimes forget that, Oh yeah, we can be amazed at what God is doing in my life. We sometimes neglect to give thanks and proper recognition of what God is doing in my life. We pray this morning that we might be moved to being astonished with great astonishment. Father, we pray that we might have the courage for ones of us that are in a difficult time of testing or trial right now that we might have the courage to believe, that we might have the courage to continue in faith, that we might have the courage to continue in faith believing.

36:03 And so Father, we commit these situations to Thee. We want to pray as a collective group. We pray that we would utilize each other, that we would lean on each other, that we would share our burdens with each other, that we would be a friend of encouragement. Father, build us up. Build us up.

36:23 Unite us as a group. Unite us as a group of believers. And we pray this to the glory of the Father. We pray this as we want to give Christ His proper place. And we pray these prayers in the name and in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

36:41 Amen.